Nebraska Volleyball vs. Kentucky draws largest crowd at Bridgestone Arena

Nebraska Volleyball's game against the No.7 Kentucky Wildcats recorded the highest attendance out of the two games at the Broadway Block Party in Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. The Huskers emerged victorious despite falling back in the early minutes, winning 24-26, 20-25, 25-19, 25-23, 15-8.

Nebraska Volleyball has been reeling in popularity since the beginning of the year, as they are nearly impossible to match on the court. The players have been dominating since the preseason scrimmages, and also continued their momentum at the AVCA First Serve Showcase, sweeping No.3 Pittsburgh and No.6 Stanford 3-1 and 3-0, respectively.

At the Broadway Block Party on August 31, 2025, the Nebraska Volleyball women's team triumphed over the Kentucky Wildcats despite falling behind initially. The iconic outside hitter Harper Murray led the team with a career-high 23 kills and 15 digs, while Rebekah Allick, the reigning AVCA National Player of the Year, finished posted eight blocks.

In other news, the Bridgestone Arena that night welcomed 11,200 spectators, the largest attendance of the two matches so far. Next Friday, Nebraska Volleyball will take on Wright State at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

The Huskers reached the final four en route to the NCAA Division I Championships, falling to eventual champions Penn State. Promising players like Lexi Rodriguez graduated from the program, and legendary coach John Cook stepped down from his role after 25 years, following the Nationals.

Nebraska Volleyball coach Dani Busboom Kelly hailed Harper Murray for her performance at the reverse sweep

Kelly at the 2024 Division I Women's Volleyball Championship - (Source: Getty)

Nebraska Volleyball's new coach, Dani Busboom Kelly, kicked off the season strong, bringing fresh coaching techniques to the court. After the reverse sweep at the Broadway Block Party, Kelly heaped praise on Murray for her back row performances, which impacted her front-end shots as well. Speaking in a press conference, the Nebraska Volleyball head coach said:

"Anybody knows that the game is typically won or lost on the left. So we have to have a left side that can take over, get big kills, we knew that if we could get the ball in the back row that that was going to be open. So we started feeding that, which was also huge."

"And back row attacks typically create quite a bit of momentum for your side. So, we started using that more, and I think she just got a ton of confidence from those few swings and carried that over to her front row play," she added.

Olivia Mauch and Laney Choboy also contributed to the Huskers' win. The team will next play on September 5, 2025.

About the author

Agnijeeta is a US Olympics journalist at Sportskeeda. She holds a Master’s degree in English and has worked as a school teacher, a blogger, a content writer and a sports writer over the past 5 years. A lover of high-adrenaline track and field events, she was also a sprinter during her school days.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone happens to be her favorite Olympian, and the athlete’s feat of breaking four records within 13 months inspires her, apart from the American's body language on and off the track. Grant Hackett swimming with a partially dysfunctional lung and winning gold in Athens is her all-time favorite Olympic moment.

Agnijeeta believes that deriving of unique angles from podcasts and interviews carried out by Olympics.com, along with hype-building of potential Olympic events on social media can help fill the coverage gap during the off season.

When not at her work desk, Agnijeeta likes to sing and paint. She also plays string instruments like guitar and ukulele and is an avid player of word puzzles.

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Edited by Agnijeeta Majumder